Abigail Ruth Mounts
Abigail Ruth Mounts is the original character of Knee Deep in the River , a fanfiction based on the History Channel Hatfields & McCoys mini-series. Early Life Abigal is born in 1867 in West Virginia to Ellison Hatfield and his mistress; an unknown woman by the last name Mounts. Ms. Mounts died in labor with Abigail's twin brother Ellison who was born mentally handicapped as a result on top of being albino. Abigail and Ellison, though loved by their family, are given a hard time growing up for their questionable parentage. Their father's wife, Sarah Staton, has a particular dislike for the children and is actively rude to them until she leaves their father in 1880. Ellison, called "Cotton-Top" by his cousins, is also picked on by others for the fact that he is a slow learner. This fact is a sensitive spot for Abigail who can become physically violent when someone insults her brother. The Feud Though Abigail views the Hatfields as family, she is not an active member in the feud between them and the McCoys, preferring to make sure she and her brother stay away from it. However, she often finds herself in the middle of poor situations, such as when she and Johnse are kidnapped by the McCoys in 1883, then when her father is murdered the next year. After this last occurence, Abigail asks William to get revenge for her by killing the McCoys: Bud, Phamer, and Tolbert. He does so and Abigail seems to calm down after this, retreating back in to an observative state until her brother is arrested in 1888. When Ellison is sentenced to death, Abigail tearfully begs her Uncle Anderson to step in on his behalf and becomes enraged when he refuses. She accuses her uncle of letting her brother become the sacrificial lamb for a feud that had been entirely his fault to begin with. After her brother's hanging, Abigail never apologizes for these words, instead moving with William to a different state and losing contact with many of the Hatfields that aren't her cousins. William Hatfield William is one of Abigails many cousins from her Uncle Anderson and Aunt Lavicy. The two do not appear to get along as children, though they continue to keep company over the years with their aunt Jenny suggesting to a 10 year old Abi that she should marry Will someday. It is not until Abigail is 16 and Will is 19 that either of them admit to an attraction, with Will stating he had fallen in love with her when she was 7 and asked her father for her hand when she was 15. The two plan to ask permission to marry immediately but are stalled by Johnse's affair with Roseanna. It takes Abigail being kidnapped and nearly killed by the McCoys for William to decide to marry immediately, the right being done by their Uncle Valentine in the jail house with their fathers and Cotton-Top acting as witnesses. The two are not even married a year before Ellison Hatfield is murdered. From this point on, their lives become difficult since their revenge on the McCoys leads to bounties being placed on Hatfield heads. So many stressful situations make it very difficult for the two to concieve a child and it is only after a second miscarriage that Abigail admits that she is beginning to feel as if their marriage will not survive the feud. When Will agress with his father's plan to let Cotton-Top hang, Abigail claims she never wants to see him again, but relents after holding her brother's body in her arms. The two depart from West Virginia not long after, escaping the legends of the feud to raise a family else where. The eventually have three children, their eldest daughter Primrose and her twin younger siblings Ellison and Nellie.